Rockets, Robots, Racecar, R&R

hierarchy

Comments were generally positive regarding the front and back covers, with the primary suggestions all relating to the treatment of the author name. In response, I adjust the scale, position, and color of the author name to make it less competitive with the title of the book. On the back cover, I added an email address to allow contact as suggested.

In all subsequent spreads I adjusted body leading from 8/9.6 to 8/10 to increase readability and improve typographic color. Hyphenation was enabled in the final spreads to improve the overall shape of the columns of text. As a consequence of these adjustments, some change in column lengths were made to keep a consistent finish in body text. These changes were all made based on feedback of intimidation, issues of readability, and oppressiveness of the various text filled areas of the spreads.

I also reworded some of the body for better applicability to the book and made some fine adjustments on image spacing on the second spread. Everything else was held constant with the support of the overall positive reviews from my peers.

The final booklet is being printed at Copies at Carson utilizing a 60lb cover with satin finish, and 28lb interior pages, saddle stitched.

I chose Futura as a clean, modern sans. I set it in all caps for category headings with a wide track. A bold weight was used for emphasis throughout the document. Ornstein, mikeornstein.com, workplaces, etc. were set in bold Futura for emphasis, followed by a light future (or in the case of the title, preceded by the light variant). Didot was chosen for the body text as a compliment of the geometric sans – a geometric serif with wide variation in thicks and thins to the very constant weight of Futura.

All of Futura (not including the title) is is set in 10pt. Didot is all 9pt.

The first composition is the most conservative of the three. Just a splash of color on the School of Design. The contrast between the gold and the white is low enough compared to the white background that the words don’t draw too much attention, but the glint of color makes the composition a bit more lively.

The gold bars at the top and bottom of this competition are meant to encapsulate the important text. The effect being strived for here is that the bar is in fact continuous across the entire page.The third layout brings the title outside the bounds of the page, increasing its effective size. The “School of Design 2011 Lecture Series” text is rotated and lightened to abstract the words and diminish literal meaning. The text indicating the location of the events is minimized to indicate lowest level of hierarchy.

These compositions make use a simple color palette throughout. The golden color is indicative of the fall, and the blacks and grays provide high contrast on the page.

In the first layout and last layout, conservative changes were made to invoke a sense of hierarchy due to size and weight. In the second layout, more liberty was taken with the letters. Purposeful line interactions were created, most notable in the title. The blocks of events were made up of various scales to create perfectly rectangular shapes. In the third layout, variations in scale made it possible to completely fill the page with text. Although some parts are hard to make out, and even eligible, the impact is strong.

Graphic elements: rules (lines)

In the first layout, delicate horizontal rules were placed under important dates. The rules extend from flush left of the text to the right margin, growing the space occupied by that section of the poster. In the second layout, bold rules were added to accentuate the flow of information. The lines here match the slope of the middle blocks of text. In the third layout the rules are placed to draw the viewers attention to important pieces of information. Without varying the weight or scale of the text, rules stress certain elements, in this case ‘School of Design’ and ‘Admission Free’. In the final design, rules are put in place to support a river; the left edges of the large rules align with the left edge of the primary block of text. The right edge of the rule extend to the limits of the longest line to suggest a more linear right side.

Critique comments: (On the third scale-modulated layout and the first rule-modulated layout).

Scale: Despite the high complexity and busyness of the composition, the meaning eventually comes out. Critics claim that even upon close inspection some elements are truly illegible. However, this illegibility invokes a strong interest.

Rules: The commentary on this composition indicated that the rules were effective in increasing the strength of their corresponding text. The rules could have had a different length to better build a rectangle around the dated block of text.

Horizontal shift & linespacing: Line spacing is used in conjunction with horizontally shifting the text to create blocks of information. The margins provide levels of importance in some cases, but merely separation in others.

Horizontal shift & stroke weights: Without a linespace, any grouping had to be accomplished with horizontal shifts. By increasing the letter weight in conjunction with shifting the text allowed for a freedom in layout. One such example is the white rectangle intruding on the text in the first design. Another element is the imaginary line splitting the dates and times from the rest of the content in the last design with these constraints.

Linespacing & stroke weights: Linespacing allows the blocking of information. Increasing the stroke of the type provides readability at a distance. At a higher level, each block has some level of pattern or repetition or symmetry.

Critiquing follows:

Critique of single stroke weight/horizontal shift layoutCritique of single line spacing/stroke weight layoutCritique of single line spacing/horizontal shift layout

Stroke Weights: The variation in weight provides places for the viewers eyes to jump. The weight also provides emphasis.

Line Spacing: By adding space between the various segments, the content is broken into blocks. By allowing a single line to stand on its own, it recieves extra attention.

Horizontal shift: two flush-left margins: Indents enable the blocking of text. The two layers give separation.

Horizontal shift: three flush-left margins: With three margins it’s possible to get the viewers eyes dancing around the page. The layouts with three levels of indentation provide three means of differentiation.

Works In Progress

This is what I’ve got coming down the pipe, or maybe the story of how a project came to be.